Going up in a hot air balloon has been on my bucket list for awhile. The idea of riding in a basket that is being carried by a big balloon is literally straight out of a children's book. When planning our Napa trip we learned that there are a number of ballooning companies that do sunrise trips over the vineyards, which sounded like an amazing experience. Never ones to shy away from a unique opportunity, we booked a flight for our second day in Napa.
Since you are traveling in the balloon when the sun rises, you have to up and ready much earlier than sunrise to depart in the balloon. We decided to go with Napa Valley Balloons and had to be ready at Domaine Chandon at 5:30am. It was chilly that early in the morning and slightly damp from the night before. We were driven up to the open field where all the balloons were laid on their sides, waiting for passengers. The crews filled them with air before tilting them right side up, firing up the gas and instructing us to climb into the basket. There were some clouds (which initially made me nervous) but our pilot informed us that this makes for an even more beautiful sunrise and there was no danger in some clouds. Not going to lie, I was nervous waiting to climb inside a wicker basket with no safety net but it was definitely a nervous excitement!
When we first took off it was still dark but the views were already incredible. It was a crazy experience seeing the ground just fall away from you as the balloon rides higher and higher into the sky.
Our balloon was equipped with a hanging GoPro to take pictures throughout the flight. You can see it in the picture above and a few of the other photos.
As the sun started to come up the vineyards began to glow with a golden light. Surprisingly the air was super calm up in the balloon. I had guessed it would be windy but it was very smooth. As you can imagine, it was very romantic gliding along with a sunrise view - a couple in our basket got engaged while we were up in the air! Talk about a unique proposal!
At one point our pilot brought us down super low over the rows of grapes where we could see the individual plants. I'm not sure the vineyard owners would be too happy if they saw how close we were to their crops, but it was super cool for us.
All the balloons landed in the same field that was 4 miles away from where we took off. The pilots have no way of controlling the direction the balloon takes, that is totally determined by the wind. They can however control the height and when you land (thankfully). The ground crew was following along with out balloon travel the entire time and met us in the open field when we landed.
It was a great experience riding in the balloon and one I will never forget. I would definitely recommend experiencing a balloon ride once in your life if you can. The views, the colors and feeling of looking down on the world from above, truly priceless. If you're going to Napa, check out Napa Valley Balloons. The pilots and crew were amazing- friendly, reassuring and fun. We loved the experience and have only great things to say about this company.
After we landed the crews shuttled us back to Domaine Chandon for a post-flight champagne breakfast. I don't think I can think of a better way to start a day of wine touring in Napa! Which is exactly what we did after the breakfast :)
Coming Up : More Napa and our trip down the coast to Big Sur!
No comments:
Post a Comment